A Second chance
by thequietCanadian
Summary: Tucker had been through a lot. His best friend being an A.I? He could handle. Being impregnated with an alien? No problem. Losing his partner and best friend all in the same day? Not so much. faced with the chance to change the past? he could but he wasn't so sure that he should.
1. Chapter 1

so i hope you all enjoy and please review. chapter one will be up in a few days and if you like check me out on AO3 at the same username.

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it wasn't supposed to have happen this way. Wash was supposed to come back whole and uninjured. He was supposed to come back to Tucker. But do things ever go according to plan? Of course not and Tucker was paying the ultimate price for it.

"Captain Tucker I think we should head back towards our main forces were outnumbered here" Tucker glance to the side to see who was talking to him and of course it was Paloma.

"So what if were outnumbered we have fucking alien weapons Paloma, god I hate you" Tucker peaked over the boulders that that his squad was currently hiding behind.

"Okay, on the count of three were going to take the two on the left out, the one on the right and the guy directly in front of us"

"Sir, shouldn't we have someone covering us?"

"I guess you're right, uh what your name was again, eh not important right now so we'll have…"

"I'll do it sir" Paloma said enthusiastically. Tucker stared at him for a minute.

"NO" There was an awkward silence between all of them for a moment. Before gun fire erupted in front of them.

"Sir we should hurry up I think there about to come over here" said the solider that Tucker couldn't remember the name of. Tucker sighed.

"Fine"

"Thank you sir, I'll have your back for sure don't worry"

"I fucking hate you Paloma"

"On my mark" Tucker turned and got ready.

"One" he could feel his men tensing getting ready to jump out of there cover.

"Two" the gun fire from the enemy began to die down and almost completely stop"

"THREE!" they ran out from under there cover the three others went straight for the ones to Tuckers left and Tucker went for the guy in the middle. His two squad members quickly dealt with their enemies, but Tucker hesitated were there was once a guy behind cover in front and on the right there was nobody.

"Shit, Paloma it's an ambush!" Tucker turned in time to see that Paloma was being over whelmed by the guys and some buddy's they most of radioed over. Tucker knew he was in trouble he knew he wasn't fast enough to turn around and run for cover so he did the only thing that was logical he shot at them. He got three of them before they could go for cover. From where Tucker was it appeared that Paloma was just unconscious unfortunately for Tucker. Tucker back pedaled to where his squad members were.

"Okay I'm going to go out there and you guys are going to cover me okay? Good" with that Tucker once again ran out to the boulders. He shot one of them, he heard a shot go off behind him but didn't feel anything. He quickly turned and stared in horror. Standing in front of him was Wash.

"Wash what the hell you are…" he didn't get to finish before Wash's body fell to the ground. Tucker swore he fired a shot at the man that were ambushing them then grabbed Wash's shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position on the boulders he pushed Paloma out of the way and heard a groan come from him. Luckily for Tucker Carolina had seen what had happened and had directed some of Chorus's men over to them as more of Charon's men were headed towards them. When Tucker was sure they were safe he gave Wash a quick glance over Tucker could tell it wasn't good. Wash's breathing was coming in short bursts and blood was trying to pouring out of the wound. Tucker tried to stop the blood by pressing down on it with his hand but with his hand but the bleeding wouldn't stop. The bullet had it Wash in the chest plate and Tucker came to realize that the guys that were shooting at them must have gotten a hold of one of the alien guns they had because no normal weapon could leave a wound this big. Tucker was internally panicking. He reached for his bio-foam hoping, no praying that it would help. As he went to apply it though Wash grabbed his hand. Tucker looked up at him and gave him a questioning look. Wash shook his head at him from side to side saying no

"Wash I know this will hurt like a bitch but trust me it'll help" a clear lie Tucker knew and so did Wash.

"Tucker it's not going to work, looks like I'm not making it out of this one" Wash's voice was just barely above a whisper. Tucker was in almost full panic mode but he tried to stay calm.

"Of course you will don't be stupid, me and Carolina will take you to Grey and she'll patch you up, you'll be, you'll be fine besides you've been through far worse"

"Tucker you have no idea where grey is and even if you did I'd bleed out before you could get me to her"

"Then, then we'll radio her tell her to come to us" Tucker knew he was grasping at straws but he had to he couldn't lose Wash not after everything they'd been through.

"She won't get here in time Tucker" Tucker went to argue this point but Carolina cut him off.

"He's right, Tucker there's nothing we can do I'm sorry"

"You're just giving up?! Both of you!" Tucker ripped his helmet off he knew it was stupid and could get him killed but he was panicked and wasn't thinking. The reality of the situation was finally setting in and he was terrified of losing him.

"Wash come on, you have to be alright, you have to" Tucker tried to keep the quiver of fear out of his voice but failed. Wash reached to take his helmet off. He placed it to the side. Then looked at Tucker who refused to meet his gaze. Wash sighed.

"Look at me, Tucker there's nothing you can do". Tears started to fall from Tuckers eyes, not even trying to hold them back.

"No, No you promised, you promised!" Tucker was getting hysterical, you could hear the pain in his voice.

"I know I did and..."

"This is my fault! Fuck this is all my fault, im sorry, im"

"SHUT UP FOR A MINTUE TUCKER" Tucker clamped his mouth shut and stared at Wash. Already he could tell Wash was fading, his face turning pale the light in his eyes fading. Wash motioned for him to move closer so sat down and laced his fingers through Wash's.

"First this wasn't your fault I chose to take that bullet for you, and im sorry" Wash paused and took a breath. Tucker opened his mouth to say something but Wash glared at him.

"Im sorry for never getting the chance to meet Junior. Im sorry for not being able to see this war to the end, and most importantly for not being able to be there when you'll need me" Wash took in a shaky breath before continuing.

"But I'm happy that I met all of you especially you Tucker you showed me how to live again, you all taught me how to be a better person" another pause

"Besides I knew there was always a possibility of me dying, just promise me you'll be okay without me looking out for you" Tucker shook his head no because there was no way in hell after all this he was going to be "okay". There was no way in hell that after seeing his boyfriend die was he ever going to be okay again. Wash gave him a pained expression.

"Take care of Caboose okay and look out for the reds will you? Carolina can you do something for me?"

"Sure thing Wash" Tucker didn't miss the crack in her voice. Tucker knew this must have been so much worse for her, losing the only friend she had from project freelancer.

"Don't take off again okay and look out for these idiots for me because god trouble just seems to follow them, can you do that for me Lina?"

"Yeah Wash, I can, I can do that" Wash turned his attention back to Tucker.

"I love you" Wash took on last shaky breath and then not another, his hand went lax in Tuckers hand. Tucker sobbed, he cried his eyes out, and felt the pain of loss radiate throughout his body.

"Tucker" Carolina said carefully as if speaking to a child. Tucker looked at her startled in his outburst he hadn't realized that she was still there.

"We have to go"

"Im not leaving him here Carolina"

"You have to" Tucker began to protest but Carolina continued before he could.

"You can come back for him after, he wouldn't want you to stay here its too dangerous". Tucker grabbed his helmet from the ground and stood up. He nodded at Carolina. And walked past her. He didn't realize it for a minute but she wasn't following him. He turned around to see her kneeling by Wash's body.

"What are you-"he didn't get to finish as Carolina strode over to him, she gestured for him to stick out his hand. He slowly did so not understanding why she wanted him to do so. She carefully placed something in his hand.

"He'd want you to have them". Tucker stared down at his hand for a moment and nearly broke down again. In his hand on a simple chain was not only Wash's dog tags but his and Tucker's engagement ring. Tucker wore a similar one around his neck. It had only been a few days since Wash had proposed. Looking at the ring made tucker feel empty, almost hollow inside. He put the chain around his neck and then under his armor. He then followed Carolina to his Squad.

"Sir are you" the squad member who came forward hesitated as he asked the question they all knew he wasn't all right.

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Okay uh sir where's Paloma?" Tucker paused before he began to speak

"He's over by, by Wash's, Wash's body" Tucker choked out the words. His squad shifted nervously.

"Is, is he dead, is Paloma dead?"

"No he's not just knocked unconscious, you guys go get him I'm going back to the meeting point with Carolina, don't die". His squad nodded and began to move out. Tucker yelled out to them to turn around. They figured he was going to tell them to tell Paloma that he hated him like usual.

"Tell Paloma that he's one lucky son of a bitch". Tucker could tell that his squad was really confused but Tucker didn't have it in him right now to be mean even to Paloma.

They find the others fairly quickly, discus plans. Tucker barely pays attention until Caboose finally realizes Wash isn't there.

"Excuse me Tucker where is Agent Washingtub?"

"Yeah where is he thought he'd want to be here for this" Griff adds ignoring Caboose.

"He's…gone" the reds stare at him for a minute as they process this, Caboose uncomprehending

"When's he coming back" Caboose asks. Tucker hates his childish ignorance at the moment, hates that he has to be the one to tell him. He begins to speak but gets cut off by Epsilon and was grateful.

"He isn't coming back buddy" Caboose stares at Epsilon a moment and Epsilon continues

"Guys I know this is a shock but we have to finish this we have to beat Hargrove so can we get back to the plan" there was a nod of agreement from they went over it more than once by Carolina's insistence.

"Carolina we'll be fine" Epsilon said.

"Just making sure"

"We really will be fine you know we'll all make it back I promise right epsilon" Tucker asked.

"Right we'll…all come back" Tucker noticed the pause but didn't mention it.

They left and headed to their destination not everything going to plan specifically Locus shooting Felix. And Hargrove showing up. One thing lead to another and look there one Hargrove's plane trapped by his men getting ready to fight their way out. Tucker stood waiting just like the rest of them for the door to burst open. Epsilon had strangely enough gone quiet after Tucker had spoken to him. After what felt like a life time the door finally gave away but Tucker didn't see anything but a bright light.

"What the hell" Was all he could say as everything around him seemed to rewind he watched as everything that had happened seemed to happen again but only this time in reverse. It happened slowly and then speed up Tucker could see glimpses here and there, Wash making him do training, epsilon as a weird sphere thing, his days in the dessert temple with Donut, and even back in Blood Gulch he took off his helmet thinking it was replaying old video files or something but nope the time was still going backwards. "Am I dead?" Tucker thought to himself he didn't remember dying. Finally everything went white before Tucker was thrown into an unfamiliar surroundings. He looked around and found himself surrounded by a group of soldiers staring at him out of all of them only a few looked familiar and only two of them he could call teammates.  
"Wash?"

"Who the hell are you?"


	2. First Encounters

Tucker was...more than a little confused. He briefly glanced around the room and realized two things one there was an assortment of people in different colored armor and two he had no idea where he was. Oh and the two people who could probably tell him had no idea who he was.

"How does he know the rookies name?" The voice came from his left from a soldier in yellow colored armor.

"Yeah how do you know his name?" Caroline's familiar voice asked but it was cold, well colder then it usually was and without the mild exasperation in it that she always seemed to have when talking to the Reds and Blues.

"Carolina you and Wash seriously don't remember me?" The minute the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"How do you know my name?" There was malice in her voice and Tucker remembers why he never gets on Carolinas bad side.

"Uh" Tucker tried to quickly think of a good excuse before he very literally gets the living daylights beaten out of him.

"Cut him some slack C, he looks as confused as we are" the guy in purple armor moved closer resting a hand on her shoulder. Carolina shrugged it off. Tucker really wanted some answers, not only was he exhausted but nothing was adding up. The others as stared at him for a moment making Tucker feel really uncomfortable until the purple one finally spoke up.

"What's your name kid?"  
"What's your name?" Tucker countered he seriously didn't want to say anything without knowing what was going on. Carolina moved towards him in a threatening manner and Tucker took a hesitant step back. The purple guy stepped forward hand out stretched and if Tucker didn't know any better a hint of amusement in his voice  
"Agent North Dakota".

Tucker froze for a minute remembering one of the nights he couldn't fall asleep and Wash had a particularly bad nightmare. He had those a lot but for once he told Tucker what it was about.  
" he was one of my closest friends, North I mean and when The Meta killed him well I wasn't that stable to begin with Tucker" he had been silent not sure what to say he only had Cabooses accidental attempts at killing them to go off of.  
" and the worst part is I don't even know if it was the meta, I... I think it might have been South his sister"

Tucker quickly outstretched his hand and shook the man's hand realizing he needed to make this look as normal as possible and briefly looked around the room. There was another one in purple arms crossed looking as standoffish as Carolina. Tucker made the assumption that, that was south.

"Lavernius Tucker but most people just call me Tucker" the guy let out a small laugh.  
"Most people call me North" Tucker held his tongue almost saying that he knew.

"No offense or anything but what the hell is going on" as Tucker asked this he fiddled with his helmet. He really wanted to put it back on, he felt exposed without it. North glanced behind him and Tucker followed his gaze to see Wyoming standing there. Tucker didn't think he reacted. Faster than even he realized he could do it he grabbed his sword and activated it, immediately the whole room had their guns pointed at him. North raised one of his hands in a pacifying manner.

"You're going to need to put that down okay" North said, just as Wash spoke in a voice of awe and surprise  
"How the fuck does he have an alien sword!" The others shot him a glare.  
"Hell no not if he's here" Tucker tilted his head in Wyoming's direction and a thought crossed his mind making him grip his sword tighter  
" and if the Meta's here I'm definitely not putting this thing away"  
"Okay, well Wyoming over there is going to get out of this room and I have no idea who else your talking about so he can't be here so just lower the sword" hesitantly Tucker deactivated the sword and placed it back on his armor piece. He watched as Wyoming left the room not taking his eyes off him once. He let out a audible sigh of relief. North ignoring this started explaining the situation to him.  
"well you see Wyoming was messing around with his armor enhancement and gamma his a.i was helping him out you following me?" Tucker nodded he had a bad feeling about this.  
"Well as he was experimenting with it Gamma seemed to put a bit too much power into it and we'll you kind of just appeared" Tucker looked at him skeptically for a moment but it wasn't one of the weirdest things to happen.  
"Can you uh send me back to where I was then?" North put his hand threw his hair ruffling it and looked a bit awkward.

"See the thing is we don't even know where you came from and after what just happened I'm pretty sure the armor enhancement is going to need some repairs so it seems your stuck here"  
" where exactly is here?" This was honestly the worst. He didn't know if any of the Reds or Caboose made it out let alone weather they had beaten Hargrove.  
"The mother of invention somewhere in the universe"  
"and we're a part of "  
"Don't tell him!"  
"Project freelancer" Tucker's simple statement left them in stunned silence which Tucker guessed meant he was right. Which also meant he had gone back in time? This was getting weirder by the second and honestly giving him a headache.

"How do you know that" a female voice asked. Tucker knew he needed to make up a reasonable excuse without giving too much away.  
"Just rumors I heard from one of my buddies stationed somewhere"

"not possible no ordinarily soldier knows about it "the one in brown responded.  
"Well it's not like you guys are subtle on your missions you know"  
"How much do you know?" Carolina asked. He was going to respond but was cut off by Wash.  
"The directors coming!" Before Tucker could even begin to process what was happening he was pushed under one of the many computer desks. Then almost all of them stood in front of him covering his view with their legs. He gave a faint sign of protest which was quickly stopped by a quick kick to his shins.

"Would somebody like to tell me what is going on here" nobody spoke. But Tucker could feel the tension in the air.

"Just going over strategy sir" Tucker thought he recognized the man's voice it sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. The man paced from one edge of the room to the other.  
"I hope for your sake you aren't lying, as you were...strategizing the ship detected an extra life form on board, Wash I hope you didn't pick up another stray cat from your last mission" Tucker almost laughed at this statement. Wash do something against protocol, two minutes ago Tucker would have called bullshit but now he wasn't so sure.

"That was one time!" Tucker saw Carolinas weight shift slightly and heard a quiet complaint from whom he assumed was Wash. Carolina must have elbowed him. Tucker then zoned out from the conversation that was taking place and very, very quietly put his helmet back on. It was rather difficult as there wasn't a whole lot of room. With his helmet finally back on he felt a bit safer but wished he was in his old armor rather than the new one. Luckily for him he had had enough time to transfer the video files from his old suit to this one. He hadn't yet figured out how to use the video in this new suit either. It wasn't exactly important though. Footsteps close by brought the situation he was in back to his attention though.

"If any of you see any one suspicious or out of the ordinary report it immediately understood?"

"Yes sir" came from everyone as far as Tucker could tell. He heard a door open and everyone seemed to drop there strict posture. He was then being pulled out from under the computer.  
"C.T can you hack into the main frame and add this guy to the data base? Put him under agent Alaska or something and low on the leader boards so it's not as noticeable" North said to the one in the brown armor. The person nodded and left the room.

"So what the hell was that all about? Who's this director guy? And no offense or anything but I don't think hiding me as an agent is going to hide me very well and why are you all staring at me like that"

"It's the helmet man it looks like Maine's" Wash told him, Tucker rolled his eyes, but realized with the helmet on that wasn't very effective.

"Am I going to get any answer or should I just figure thing out for myself" Tucker asked in an annoyed voice.

"One we don't have to tell you anything, and two don't try finding things out for yourself I have a feeling you'll just get yourself into trouble" Carolina replied. North was about to reply but Wash beat him to it.

"the director doesn't really like anything unexpected and if he found out we were messing around with the armor enhancements well we'll be running a circuit for like a week and trust me when I say you don't want to be doing that it's killer, LITERALLY l think it killed Idaho and Oklahoma and" he was stopped as The yellow one put a hand over where his mouth would be. Tucker didn't know how it worked as they were in helmets.

"directors head of project freelancer and rookie you talk too much" the yellow one said while giving a pointed look at Wash.

"For now hiding you in the systems the best thing we can do, since Wash is the newest one of us and doesn't have a roommate yet you can crash in his room" North said.

"That's not going to work" Tucker had shared rooms with Wash in his time and the reality that he was gone was starting to kick in leaving him feeling hollow and empty. He figured sharing it with younger Wash, happier Wash wouldn't help him.

"Why not?" A disapproving voice from North and a spluttering whine from Wash and Tucker knew this would be an argument.

"Listen it's nothing personal but I just ..."  
"You'll stay in Wash's room end of discussion Newbie" Carolina told him leaving no room for argument. He sighed and looked down he knew better then to argue with Carolina.  
"Now that that's settled in going to actually go practice" with that Carolina walked off.

"Well uh I guess we should introduce you to everyone" North said awkwardly. Tucker gave a nod.

"In the purple is my sister South, yellow is York, Connecticut or C.T for short is the one in the brown armor who left earlier, Florida's the one in the blue and Maine's the one with white armor similar to yours but neither of them are here, and I guess you already know Wash and Carolina" as each name was listed off a hand was brought forward to in greeting a firm hand shake from South, a lazy almost tired one from York and an over excited one from Wash.

"No offense or anything but would you mind taking off your helmet we don't really know who you are, we'll take ours off to if it makes you more comfortable" Tucker reached for his helmet he didn't want to take it off after just putting it back on but he didn't feel like arguing about it. He pulled it off then motioned for the others to do so as well.

York was the first one to take his off all though Tucker could tell he was hesitant about it. He had chocolate colored eyes and light skins and brown hair that spiked up. Tucker had to admit he was pretty good looking. With York's lead North and South both took off there's as well. Both had blond hair but South's went up to her chin and had very light purple highlights at the end. Along with this they both had pale blue eyes. Tucker wasn't surprised they were siblings after all. Wash was the last to pull his off. Tucker knew what he looked like or thought he did. His sandy Blonde hair usually so neat and short, was long and fluffed out in some places. His eyes usually so empty were filled with life. Most noticeably though was the fact that there was no bags under his eyes from sleepless nights and the small scars that were on his face weren't there. His freckles were also more prominent. Tucker took a sharp intake of breath. He wasn't used to it and Tucker at that moment realized just how much Wash must have gone through to be the broken person that he was. After a moment of staring. York coughed drawing his attention away from Wash.

"We know the rookies good looking but please if you're going to stare just take a picture it'll last longer" Tucker smirked at York's statement.

"Why you jealous, don't worry there's enough of me for everyone Bow Chika Bow Wow". The room was quiet for a moment than everyone excluding Tucker burst out laughing.

"Damn it's going to be an interesting few weeks with you here" York said once he stopped laughing. Tucker smiled and laughed at that. He swiped some his hair back into place as it had been swept to the front as he had taken of his helmet.

"So you were saying something about a room? I'm kinda tired, long day mind showing we were it is? Tucker asked to no one in particular.

"I'll do it it's my room anyways and I can show you around as we go, as long as the director isn't there anyways I don't know how far C.T's gotten in adding you in the database and -mhmf" York's hand was once again put over Wash's mouth a glare coming from Wash this time.  
"Just take him to the room Wash, the guy looks like he'll pass out any second" Wash nodded. He headed over to the door and motioned for Tucker to follow him. Wash went to put an arm around him but Tucker flinched it off before he really got to. Tucker hadn't meant for it to happen and immediately felt bad about it as Wash gave him a rather sad look which he tried and failed to hide. Tucker just wasn't ready for it not after what happened to his Wash. He heard whispers behind him as they left but as the door shut they were silenced.

Back in the room the three freelancers began to talk.  
"Is sending the rookie to go with him the best idea York? It seems to me he knows more than he's letting on" North said concern and worry in his voice.  
"No actually I don't but it's Wash's room and I could feel the excited energy practically radiating off the kid"  
"We should keep an eye on him, especially around Wash" South chimed in.  
"I second that but we have to do it in a way Wash won't realize, Rookie I'll probably be rather upset if he thinks we don't think he can manage on his own" York stated. A nods came from both siblings.  
"That bit he was spouting about hearing about us from a friend? C.T's right even if they did somehow see us on a mission no ordinary soldier would recognize us or know our project name besides the Director and the counselor would cover it up as us being elite soldier or Spartans or some bullshit wouldn't they? He's story isn't adding up" South stated angrily she clenched her hands into fists almost like she wanted to punch something.  
"Unless" north stated. Both South and York looked at him curiously.  
"Unless?"  
"Unless he somehow came in contact with one of the sim troopers it's highly unlikely but it's a possibility they would be the only ones who would have ever heard of us or seen us for that matter" South crossed her arms over her chest.  
"Either way I don't trust the guy not yet anyways, where did he say he was from again? "Silence meet South's question for a second to long. North looked at York then to South before answering.  
"He didn't"

Tucker didn't know Wash could talk this much, in fact he didn't know he could even talk this fast. Tucker zoned out on more than one occasion and Trying to follow which hall lead where was just exhausting Tucker figured once he got to the room he'd crash and figure everything out after words and have a quick talk with Epsilon.  
"An on the left is the mess hall if you take one turn to the left and two to the right it will get you to the change rooms and then to the training rooms" Wash kept going and Tucker at least tried to pretend to pay attention. Finally after taking a ridicules amount of turns they seemed to reach the living quarters.  
"Across from us is North and York and down the hall on the left is Florida and Wyoming's  
I don't actually know who Maine's roommate is and the girls are in another corridor". Wash swiped what looked like a pass card and let them in. He started to show Tucker where everything.  
"Okay so bedrooms are on the left bathroom is on the right and"  
"Hey Wash mind if I have this place to myself for a bit". Wash frowned but Tucker kept talking trying not to pay attention.  
"I just I need some alone time. Understand?" Wash's face turned a deep crimson and Realization dawned on Tucker of how Wash was interpreting that.  
"Uh yeah totally I'll just uh yeah" wash stumbled over his words barely forming a coherent sentence.  
"Dude chill, I'm not going to jerk off, it's just been a long day". If anything thing this seemed to make Wash blush an even deeper shade of red. Ignoring this Tucker began to gently lead Wash towards the door.  
"Okay cool thanks for showing me around and what not, I'll see you in a few hours okay" he pushed Wash through the door, Tucker saw a confused look on Wash's face before he closed the door on him. He leaned his back on it and then slowly slid down the floor. He ran a hand across his face. Finally alone the events that had taken place caught up with Tucker. He let out a sob quiet at first but then soul wrenchingly loud. He cried in frustration for not knowing the outcome on chorus, for his shitty luck at being pulled back in time but mostly in sorrow for losing Wash. After what felt too long to Tucker he pulled himself together. If Wash had taught him anything it was to keep moving forward and be prepared for everything. First things first gather information.  
"Church I need you to tell me about the project come on man I know your there". Tucker was met with silence. He gave out a frustrated sigh.  
"You know you don't always have to be an asshole right I mean like- Holy shit" a green hologram appeared in front of Tucker's face catching him off guard.  
"Hello there Tucker, epsilon knew a lot about you, I am Delta and you must be rather confused"  
"No shit I'm confused I'm in the past, where the hell is church I need to talk to him and how the hell did you get here"  
" talking to epsilon is not possible as he is no longer here" Tucker paused for a minute not comprehending his statement.  
"What do you mean he's no longer here I know he is stop fucking with me"  
"Tucker I can understand your confusion, but Epsilon really is not here, in order for you to be able to full use the suits armor enhancements, A.I unit Epsilon had to fragment" Tucker sucked in a breath of air.  
"W-what"  
"No why, why would he do that?"  
"Although epsilon never clearly showed it he cared for all of you especially agent Carolina"  
"Well you said he fragmented I'm assuming that there's more of you right? Do you have any of epsilons memories of project freelancer?"  
"Yes along with me is Theta, Omega, Sigma, Iota, Eta and Gamma and to my knowledge there is no memory in us at all, but I could be wrong"  
"So I'm on my own in this"  
"Affirmative"


	3. Let's Change the Past

Wash stared dumbly at the door for a minute not fully comprehending what just happened. A loud sob brought himself back to reality. He looked with a lost expression at the door as sobs continued to be heard. Deciding that it was probably best to leave the man alone, along with Wash not being good at comforting people, he turned around and headed for the mess hall. Hopefully Maine, York or North were in there to give him something to do for a few hours. As he slowly walked there he put on his helmet as multiple questions swirled through his head. Who was this guy? Where'd he come from? How did he know about the project? And more importantly how did he know Wash?

"Yo rookie, don't think so hard I can practically hear you thinking over here." Wash looked up and blinked not realizing that he had entered the room. York and North waved him over and Wash easily complied.

"Abandoned the guy already Wash? Not like you." North said with a smile on his face. Wash shook his head.

"I think." Wash tried to remember what happened while his brain had shut down in embarrassment.

"I think I got temporarily kicked out." North and York looked at each other and then back at Wash.

"What do you mean, is he like." York made a jerking motion with his hand causing North to choke on the food he had just put in his mouth, and for a deep blush to creep into Wash's face once again thankfully being hidden by his mask.

"No he's." Wash paused internally debating if he should let them know the man had been crying.

"Come on rookie if he's not having some fun what is he doing?" York asked a smirk on his face.

"Both of you have to promise not to say anything to anybody, especially the girls." Both men nodded at him.

"He was crying, I think, I didn't stick around long enough to ask about what". Both North and York were quiet for a moment. Leaving them all in an awkward silence.

"Well uh you could always go to the Sauna on the lower deck" York said after a while.

"I told you, I can't find it! I just can't find it! Why don't you just show me where it is by taking me there?" There was a gleam in York's eye that Wash couldn't place.

"Come on rookie it's not that hard. Take the elevator down to the second floor, take two lefts, then a right, cut through the gym, then take two rights, then a left, stop when you see the equipment room and across from it is where it's at" Wash went to answer but York was already pushing him towards the exit of the mess hall. He swore he saw Florida shake his head at them but York was pushing him to fast for him to really see.

"Good, okay see you later rookie!" If Wash would have turned around instead of continuing forward he would have seen North laughing his ass off and York joining in once he reached him.

The hope that Tucker had in him fizzled and died in his chest at Delta's simple statement. All emotion left his voice.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the project D? I don't know anything about it other than the director was a total asshole and that it went to shit real quickly."

"And that it fucked Wash up... Real bad" The A.I didn't say anything for a moment which was starting to get on Tucker's nerves.

"There was multiple freelancers before Wash who received A.I implantations. I do not know the order. There is also three specific events that happen before things unravelled."

"Which is?"

"One, Agent Texas is introduced, Two, the sarcophagus incident and three, Agent Connecticut or CT's betrayal and death"

"How is any of those connected" Delta went to respond but another A.I appeared in front of Tucker blazing like a fire. Tucker had to rub his eyes at the sudden brightness of it and by the time he opened his eyes again the A.I was speaking.

"When Agent Texas arrived, Carolina became increasingly more competitive and as a result put many of her teammates at risk, the sarcophagus mission is the beginning of the end as it is what fractured the project and CT's death is what leads Agent Texas to leave the project and York and North's betrayals as well"

"It's not like that!" A burst of fuchsia entered Tuckers vision blinding him for a moment.

"Oh but Theta it is" the flaming A.I replied. The fuchsia A.I which Tucker now knew was Theta looked like he was going to jump the other. A sigh came from Delta.

"I thought we agreed I'd handle everything"

"No, you stated that you would we never agreed to anything" the flaming A.I said to Delta. The three began to argue, a cacophony of sounds coming from them. Tucker couldn't tell what they were saying but knew it had to stop if he wanted to get somewhere.

"You three shut up! Honestly it's really not important right now. Delta is the flaming dude wrong or is that basically what happened"

"Sigma, did have it mostly right but"

"No offense D but if it's not super important I don't care" The A.I became silent after that. Tucker thought for a moment a plan forming in his head.

"I don't recommend that as your plan of action Tucker" Delta said.

"You can hear my thoughts? Why not? Nothing too bad could happen right?" All three A.I's looked at each other, and Tucker could have sworn he heard some whispers in his head as well but as quickly as it was there it disappeared. Tucker figured it was the other A.I's he had yet to meet.

"It could change everything! You want to change the timeline as we know it, one small change would only alter it slightly but a big one could change everything, you've done enough harm already just being here" Tucker stared at the green A.I for a moment. He had a feeling this was as much emotion he was ever going to get from him.

"How much"

"What?" Theta asked, both Delta and Sigma stared at him in confusion as well.

"How much damage could it do? Are we talking on a scale of ending the war or like something else?"

"We don't know, there's countless possibilities some good others not so much " A gray A.I said he sounded familiar.

"Garry? You know what not important. But there's a possibility that most if not all of them get out of this alive? Right?"

"Statistically speaking there is probably a one in a billion chance that it could happen but the-"

"I'll do it then let's change the past". All the A.I's present stared at him.

"I don't think it's possible. Alpha tried it once before and no matter what he did the results were always the same" Theta said. Sigma and Garry nodded as well.

"Well what if that was a fixed point in time. I watched this show once about a guy who could like travel time and there was certain events he couldn't change but others he could, so maybe it's a case like that? Either way if it doesn't change anything then what's the harm in trying?"

"He has a point" two other A.I's appeared speaking at the same time. Delta seemed to sigh. While both Gamma and Sigma shrugged their shoulders. Theta did a fist bump in the air.

"What do you want to do first then?" Delta asked. At that moment Tuckers stomach rumbled. He looked at the A.I's sheepishly.

"Uh dinner?"

"Before we go, I want to make a suggestion. I think that all of us should at the moment not be known to the freelancers, as it may cause... problems" the other A.I's were about to argue but Tucker gave a nod.

" I think Carolina would beat me if she saw all of you with me, but where will you guys go when I'm not talking to you and how will we communicate?"

"Well we're already stored in your helmet since you don't have neural implants for us to go into, but if you do take off the helmet it's likely we'll move into one of the armor's enhancements "Tucker gave a nod.

"As for hearing your thoughts well since the suit is connected to you, so are we in a way, so it's likely we will respond to you in your conscience" Delta finished explaining and with one last final nod Tucker put his helmet on and headed out.

Wash was exhausted. He had been searching for the stupid sauna for almost two hours and still hadn't found it. He turned another corner and crashed into someone. Both he and the other guy very ungraciously fell to the floor.

"Shit sorry, wasn't paying attention"

"No problem, can you show me where the dining hall is I'm starving and I've been looking for it for what feels like forever" Wash looked up and realized it was Tucker.

"Well for one thing, you're not even on the right floor for it maybe that's why you haven't found it" Wash said sarcastically. He couldn't tell because of the mask but he had a feeling the other man was giving him a strange look.

"Right well I'm going to go find it then" Tucker got up and then offered a hand to Wash. Wash took it and got up. Tucker turned around in the completely wrong direction to the elevators. Wash sighed. Might as well show him where they were.

"Tucker wait" Tucker turned his head and stopped.

"You're going the wrong way" Wash stated simply. Tucker seemed to think for a moment before he turned around and walked back.

"Oh my bad, this place should really come with a map, thanks by the way" Wash walked beside him.

"I might as well come with you got nothing better to do"

"Are you saying I'm something better to do because I am Bow Chika bow wow" Tucker laughed and Wash's cheeks became warm as a blush crept on to them.

"That's not what I meant and you know it stop laughing!" Tucker couldn't help himself he just knew that Wash probably had the brightest blush on his face.

 _"Quite teasing him, it's not nice" Theta said_

 _"Dude come on him had it coming"_ Tucker replied. There was silence between the two after that as they walked to the elevators that would take them up occasionally Wash would turn a corner.

"You seem to know how to get around here well which is kinda weird cause it looks like there's not a lot for you guys on this floor" Tucker said after he was tired of the silence. Wash shrugged.

"I guess I've been down here a lot"

"Why is that? And why are you down here now" there was a moment's hesitation before Wash replied.

"I was looking for the sauna" Tucker stared at him a moment as Wash pressed the button for the elevator.

"Wait you guys have a sauna seriously?!"

"Apparently but I can never find it even though I follow North's and York's instructions granted they are different every time". Tucker burst out laughing once again. Leaving a confused Wash beside him.

"What?" Wash asked annoyance laced in his voice. Tucker doubled over holding his stomach because he was laughing so hard.

"There totally messing with you dude there's no way there's a Sauna on this ship" Tucker heard a quiet voice say his name in the back of his head but he ignored it.

"What space fleet made for highly trained fighters would have a sauna on it?" Tucker asked after taking several deep breaths he looked at Wash waiting for an answer.

"Uhhh a really good one?" Wash's voice had raised an octave becoming really squeaky. Tucker went to reply but a ding from the elevator alerted them that the elevator was there. Tucker heard Delta speak again and internally sighed.

" _What is it_?" He asked

" _What Wash was saying about a sauna is true_ "

" _Wait what?_ Seriously."

"Pardon?" He heard Wash say and Tucker realized he had spoken out loud. He quickly made something up.

"You should seriously get them back you know for fucking with you...I could help" Tucker didn't know why he volunteered to help but it was too late to go back now.

"Why you barely know me" Wash said. Tucker smiled under his mask. that's what you think Tucker thought. He shrugged trying to be casual.

"Why not it's not like I'm going to have anything better to do while I'm here so do we have a deal or no?" Tucker replied while sticking his hand out towards Wash. Wash stared at it for a moment then hesitantly shook it.

"Deal."


End file.
